When Heather Clark and Matthew Mazzotta set out to come up with the
craziest art project they could think of, little did they know the
company they would be keeping, both real and virtual.

Since hatching their idea more than six months ago for a ''busycle,"
a human-pedaled bus, they've received advice from engineers in the
Netherlands and South Africa, a mechanic from Australia, a bicycle
sculptor from Baltimore, university professors, Boston-area bicycle
clubs, and a junkyard scavenger and tinkerer who has appeared on the
British television program “Junk Yard Wars”. A pastry
chef has volunteered time on weekends.

Even the City of Boston called them up, eager to see the funky-sounding
contraption recruit riders from various neighborhoods and participate
in fall bicycling and other events.

''Basically the whole project has come about because of the Internet,"
said Clark, 27, a Brookline resident who manages affordable housing
projects.

''The second we said, 'Let's build something with bicycles and engineering,'
the whole community came out like a roaring river," said Mazzotta,
28, a Jamaica Plain carpenter.

Thinking they had invented the concept, the artists -- who had no
engineering experience and little metalworking skill -- received e-mails
alerting them to earlier human-powered vehicles. The Dutch have several,
including a beer bike, with a movable bar.

But Clark and Mazzotta, who have been friends since collaborating
on a high school art project a decade ago, say the project combines
several interests: environmental sustainability, use of recycled materials,
and community interaction. ''In terms of symbolism, the concept of
converting an existing vehicle to pedal power is pretty exciting,"
Clark said.

''We're interested in grass-roots activism and people coming together
and making change in their communities," she said. ''We're also
interested in people challenging themselves to come up with different
solutions, being sustainable, being less reliant on foreign oil, having
a more positive environment for children to grow up. And just how
do you have more fun?"

On a practical level, the busycle might have a hard time competing
with other forms of transportation. It will probably manage 13 to
15 miles per hour on level ground and three-quarters to to 1 mile
per hour up a modest hill of, say, 5 percent grade, said Jeff Del
Papa, a self-described ''natural scrounge" involved in the project.

''I wouldn't go up Beacon Hill," said David Gordon Wilson, an
MIT mechanical engineering professor emeritus of mechanical engineering
and author of the book ''Bicycle Science." ''I mean, they could
do it, but it wouldn't be very exciting. People would be walking by
you . . . "

Harnessing the energy of 14 bicyclists and a driver to tool around
town on the frame of a van was ''quite an engineering problem,"
because of the weight of the vehicle and the people, said Wilson,
who has served as one of the team's advisers. He and other engineers
recommended finding a transmission that could provide very low gears,
such as those used in many pickup trucks.

''We decided the driver is only responsible for steering and brakes,
because that's pretty important," Clark said after showing a
short film at a sneak preview at a Cambridge bar in late July, as
a crowd of 100 chuckled.

Beyond sweating out the engineering, though, the project has been
an organizational feat, with materials, space, and people to sort
out on a deadline, Mazzotta said: ''It was like starting a business
from scratch in one month.

The last Sunday in July signaled a small victory, with the arrival
of a newly found truck transmission that afternoon, though otherwise
it was a slow day, filled with calculations and measurements at their
donated workspace at Sparqs Industrial Arts Club in Woburn.

Having spent $100 on the transmission, $20 on a master brake cylinder,
''plus a lot of pizza," Clark said, the cocreators have been
relying on lots of donated parts, including the 3/4-ton van.

Volunteers have helped with everything from brainstorming the design
to alerting the pair to the Woburn studio space.

''I was starting to offer certain things -- and I hadn't even met
the guy," Dave Martinez, a bicycle and pedicab mechanic, said
of his initial enthusiastic conversation with Mazzotta.

''I'm reminded of [Alexander] Calder, who would build a maquette
and give it to a structural engineer, who'd figure out how to build
it," Del Papa said. ''This is a time-honored system."

On that Sunday, Del Papa split his time between readjusting the brake
pedal and working with the crew to design a set of recumbent seats.
The adjustable seats should allow children to ride as well, Mazzotta
said at the sneak preview.

The team has been trying to expand its volunteer circles even further,
by recruiting people to ride the busycle and to provide ideas for
routes.

The busycle is also a metaphor for larger themes, including its use
of found and donated items and asking for help from neighbors and
friends, said Meg Rotzel, director of the nonprofit Berwick Research
Institute in Roxbury, which has supported the project through a stipend,
artistic feedback, and publicity.

''It'd be very difficult to ride the busycle without 14 other people
riding with you, both in body and mind," she said.

For more information, see www.busycle.com and www.hubonwheels.org.
The busycle is scheduled to participate in the Hub on Wheels event
at Franklin Park today, and today's parade celebrating Boston's 375th
birthday.

About The Busycle

The Busycle is a fully functional 15 to 20 person 100% passenger pedaled vehicle.
The busycle itself runs solely on the energy of its passengers. Although driven by a
busycle driver, all passengers pull their weight and pedal in their seats.
Once construction is finished in July 2005, anyone and everyone is invited to
busycle around the city of Boston following a community-determined busycle route
and schedule. Eventually the artists and 15+ friends will busycle across the country
taking in many sites along the way.

Join our email list for updates on Busycle events!

The Busycle project needs your help! Please help us cover the cost of development and
supplies with a donation.

We would like to thank The Berwick Research Institute, the
LEF Foundation and the Massachusetts Cultural Council for their
support of this project.